ICST lauds government decision to give Rs15 billion to textile sector

Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders (ICST) on Thursday lauded the decision of the government to provide Rs15 billion to the textile sector under the PM's package.

Textile sector is the mainstay of the economy which must be supported and the decision will infuse confidence in this sector which continues to lose the competitive edge in the international market, it said.

The government should try the full implementation of the package and resolve the issue confronting textile sector that includes energy crisis, energy price, refund and taxation issues, said Patron ICST Shahid Rasheed Butt.

He said that decision to release Rs15 billion by August 14 is laudable and it should be implemented within time to give a message that government is giving priority to facilitating the textile sector.

The move comes at a time when country's overall exports have gone down from around $24 billion to around $20 billion per annum over the past few years of which textile exports constituted more than half of the total shipments.

Shahid Rasheed Butt said that exports continue to slide since years while imports and trade deficit has crossed all the limits pushing country at the brink.

The government should take steps to control imports and boost exports otherwise the country will face very serious problems, he added.

He said that government has announced two packages for exporters but could not implement it which resulted in uncertainty among the exporters.

The government had fixed the annual deficit target at 20.5 billion dollars but missed it by a wide margin.